


we are one, we are alive

by DeadAndDying



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, M/M, Mild Language, Multi-verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:09:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadAndDying/pseuds/DeadAndDying
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this universe, they never stopped loving each other.....</p>
            </blockquote>





	we are one, we are alive

**Author's Note:**

> I was at work and couldn't get the idea of Dan and Phil in alternate timelines out of my head. Multi-verse theory, for the win! I might make this into a more detailed fic since, I skimmed over most things. This is like a tiny collection of ficlets rather than a whole entire work, but *shrugs.* 
> 
> Titles comes from Death Cab for Cutie's Codes and Keys.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't pretend to know anything about any of the people involved in this fic, their lives, or their actual interests. Everything they are belongs solely to them, and I just took their names and mostly, turned them into something else.

i.

In this universe, Dan and Phil have been friends for nearly 6 years. They share a flat in London together and are 4 years apart in age.

Here, Dan and Phil meet when Dan is 18 and confused, they meet when Phil is 22 at University and working on a degree. Phil finishes his studies at York and Dan drops out of Manchester. 

Dan and Phil collide to become the DanandPhil. This leads to a plethora of videos titled Phil Is Not On Fire, a book, and a tour. This Dan and Phil are internet celebrities, authors, and hosts. 

Dan and Phil aren’t in love, to the best of anyone’s knowledge.

Here, rumors fly, screenshots spread, and videos leak. Dan and Phil erase what little they can of the past that has come back to haunt them. The public knows nothing of their relationship except for assumptions made on what you could call outdated information that proves absolutely nothing. Dan and Phil aren’t in love, that’s what they say. 

In this universe, Dan and Phil are best friends of 6 years trying to figure out what being in the limelight is like before it can eat them alive. 

ii.

In this universe, Dan and Phil are at University. 

Here, they have a mutual friend, Louise, who introduces them at a party they both surprisingly agreed to come to. Phil finds out that Dan is seeking a career in teaching, “I think I could be good with kids,” he says.

“You’ll be wonderful,” Phil replies. He doesn’t know a damn thing about the boy, but he knows he’ll do great things. Dan doesn’t reply, but a small, shy smile spreads over his face creating small indents on his cheeks. 

Phil tells Dan he wants to be an animator, “You mean like Disney?” Dan queries. 

“No,” Phil laughs, “I would love to become a video game animator, but I wouldn’t knock Disney if they wanted me.”

“Oh! That’s neat, any specific video game genre?” Dan’s a boy full of questions.

“Horror,” Phil replies with a smile, all teeth. 

“Is that your favorite to play?” Dan continues with the questions.

“Oh, no. I can’t play a horror video game without at least 5 other people in the room with me, with the lights on! Horror is just fun to draw, there’s really no set boundaries for how far you can go,” Phil is lighting up the way he always does, the way Dan loves watching people light up when they talk about things they love. “There’s an endless supply of monsters templates that you can create off of, or get inspired by. Creativity is creativity anywhere, but horror excites me when I get to control it,” Phil is by no means finished, Dan stands listening in awe.

“Sounds like your future is more exciting than mine,” Dan teases.

“Don’t say that! You’ll be molding little minds. If it weren’t for teachers like you to inspire where would I be?” Phil watches Dan’s eyes go soft at the comment, wonders how many times he can get Dan to look at him like that, if he can get him to do it forever. 

In this timeline, they’re compatible everywhere but romantically, it’s not for lack of trying. 

Here, Phil tries so hard to get Dan to love him in the same way he loves Dan. The only thing Dan will take seriously is his dream of teaching, everything else falls to the wayside. Everything is too busy, everything is not enough. Phil doesn’t know how to love halfway, but Dan does. It’s a pity when you fall in love with the right person, but it’s the wrong time.

There are fights and there are uglier fights. There’s so much screaming, they forget the good times. 

It takes 6 months before Dan sits Phil down and tells him, “This isn’t going to work, ever.”

Phil’s chest aches with the confirmation of something he’s known since the beginning. Denial has been Phil’s best friend since the exact moment Dan walked into the cramped hallway at that party and said hello to Louise. 

“I know,” Dan looks at him with sad eyes, and all Phil can think about are the soft edges of when he told Dan he’d be an inspiration.

In this universe, they come together and fall apart. 

iii.  
In this universe, they go to the same high school.

Dan and Phil have consistently run in different crowds until, Dan befriends PJ, the best artist in his art class. It’s as awkward as first meetings usually go. Eventually, they hit it off, realizing they’re into most of the same things and share a favorite band. 

Here, Dan and Phil are best friends. They spend 2 consecutive summers playing video games and browsing the internet while nudging each other when they come across something funny. They’re as close as any friends can be.

High school speeds past them, but their friendship remains strong. They have plans to go to the same university and room together, but Phil gets into his dream college and Dan could never forgive himself for stopping him from going. They promise to keep in touch, but everyone was right when they tell you, you don’t really stay friends with people from high school.

They lose touch around 9 months in, both too busy with their own courses to pay much mind to even the friends they have near. They mostly catch up with what the other is doing via Facebook, but both are too nervous that it’s been too much time and how awkward it’ll be to ever start a conversation. Those 9 months turn into years and then, suddenly they hit 0 days since the last incident.

It’s at a coffee shop of all fucking places (Phil tells everyone it’s a nice 2nd meet-cute).

Dan’s sitting a few tables away from the bar when, Phil spots him. Phil is debating internally on whether or not he should walk up to him when the barista shouts, “Phil!” shrilly into the shop. Dan’s eyes flicker up at the name and Phil wonders if he shares the same habit of searching through the crowd that he does when someone says Dan’s name. He turns to take his order and decides that it’s now or never, he’s missed him. 

“Hey,” Phil says with a tight smile and a wave.

“Phil, fancy bumping into you here of all places,” Dan replies coolly. There’s something in his eyes that Phil can’t read. He chooses to scan Dan over instead of trying to decipher meaning he won’t understand. He looks good, always has. 

“Uh, you can sit, if you’d like?” it comes out more like a question than Phil had hoped.

“Sure.”

“How’ve you been?” Dan starts.

It’s hours before they finally leave, the barista has been giving them the eye for the last 2 hours and looks like they’re about to call the police and accuse them of loitering.

“You live near here?” 

“Yeah, I just moved here for a job, actually,” Dan admits, “Publishing company needed an editor and here I am.” 

“That’s great. I’m happy for you, you always were a giant book worm. Now you’re deciding what’s fit to go on shelves,” Phil smiles over at him and sees that Dan is smiling at him warmly, the way he used to.

This could be the moment in the story where everything falls into the place, the part where Phil thinks he’s screwed (he always has been), but it isn’t. They fall in love gradually to the point where they don’t realize it’s happened.

In this world, Dan and Phil fit so seamlessly into each other’s lives that it isn’t a question of will they fall in love, but how. Dan doesn’t have to worry that Phil will hate the idea of moving in with him. Phil won’t have to worry when he asks Dan if they can live the rest of their lives together. 

Here, it’s not perfect, no timeline is perfect. There are bad times, but there are great times. 

In this universe, they never stopped loving each other. 

iiii.  
In this universe, they live a world apart. 

Dan is a sophomore in college who lives in Los Angeles, California.

Phil is a senior in college who lives in London, England.

Here, their internet presence is bold and bright. It’s how they meet. Dan is a filmmaker, Phil is a gamer. Their interests overlap. 

Dan can remember the exact moment he came across one of Phil’s videos, because it was Halloween themed. Over the period that they’ve known each other, he found out that those are fan requested themes he won’t deny them even if he might have a heart attack on camera. Horror video games and Phil are not friends, won’t ever be. 

Phil clicked on one of Dan’s short videos, because his friend forwarded it to him, told him it’s something up his alley. Turns out it was, but he’ll deny that he cried watching the video that first introduced him to Dan. He clicks on other videos, the behind the scenes, the videos where Dan explains his vision when, a video is wildly misinterpreted. 

Dan doesn’t fall in love watching Phil scream in fright as a badly animated clown appears out of thin air. Phil doesn’t fall in love watching Dan explain what the story behind the video that made Phil cry really meant to him. 

They’re liars. 

“Tell me more about California,” Phil requests.

“There’s this really cool bookstore that sells indie comics and zines. They have an entire corner dedicated to graphic novels, I want to take you there,” Dan murmurs into the crook of his arm.

They’re on their 5th hour of Skype, Dan is glad he rooms alone.

“I wish you could,” is whispered into the night.

“Someday,” Dan watches Phil’s face smile warmly at him from thousands of miles away. He wishes he knew when ‘someday’ was.

“Tell me about how you’re going to change the world, Phil,” Dan likes saying this, because it makes Phil blush every single time.

Phil’s studying to become an engineer, Dan knows he’ll do amazing things. 

Someday doesn’t come soon, but it does come. 

Dan waits anxiously at the airport, biting his nails into little nubs. He’s jittery and the guy in the seat next to him has huffed in annoyance at least twice. He jumps up from his seat when Phil’s flight reads ‘arrived’ even though he knows it’s a process to get everyone out of the plane in an orderly manner.  
Minutes feel like hours and when Dan catches sight of Phil in the crowd his breath catches in his throat. He’s real. He’s beautiful. 

Dan can’t process Phil wrapping him up in a hug, can’t tell you when he started crying, but he knows he can’t stop. Phil is wiping his tears away and pressing tiny little kisses to every part of his face that he can.

“Hey, you’re okay, Dan. You’re okay,” Phil tells him. He wants to tell him he knows, that’s he’s not just okay, he’s great. Everything is okay, because Phil is finally here and he can hold his hand and kiss him and run his fingers through his hair.  
When Dan calms down, he drives them down to his dorm, so Phil can drop off his stuff. It’s here in this dingy, stale aired room that Phil tells him he’s been accepted into the same university that Dan attends.  
Everyone tells them it’s a bad idea.

“He moved across the world for you, he could resent you,” “What if he feels like you owe him something,” and “Did you try to stop him” relentlessly bombard Dan’s everyday life. 

Truthfully, they don’t have answers to any of these things, but they move in together. It takes months before anyone gives them the chance they deserve to prove what they mean to each other.

Chris, Dan’s most recent and accepting friend, is the first to see it. 

“Don’t know how anyone could ever think you’d break each other’s hearts, you’re in this forever,” he whispers to Dan as they both watch Phil all but tumble into the living room carrying 3 glasses with a popcorn bowl balanced on top.

In this universe, miles and worlds didn’t keep them apart.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this. Feel free to let me know what you liked, or if you found any errors!


End file.
